Next Trip...

With this great trip in the bag..plans are underway for the next big trip.  Plan on hitting up Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo...that means 3 Floyds, Surly, Bells, Founders, and a laundry list of other breweries to see! Stay tuned...until then Cheers!

End of Portland

Well that's it! Trip is over, and I had 4 days of awesome beers, great food, good company and walked over 30 miles, tried over 100 beers, hit up about 20 breweries and a bunch of brewpubs.  All in all I would say over the course of less than 96 hours I did a good job! But if I had to recommend a specific list of MUST see places...for breweries I would choose Lucky Lab, Alameda, Hopworks Bike Bar, Laurelwood (in the airport), Deschutes, Cascade...as for food I would say Hotlips, Muumuus....as for brewpubs Horsebrass, Sidebar, Belmont Station...and as for just tourist places Voodoo Donuts, Kennedy School.
Here's just some of my leftover pictures all around the great city of Portland..

 

 Great pedaling-bar contraption we saw rolling down the road...gotta book one of those next time!

 Bye-Bye Portland!

 

Brewpubs/Restaurants Day 4 - Portland, OR

On Day 4 we had repeats including Hotlips and Lucky Lab, but still got a chance to hit up a couple new places...

-Muumuu's is a great restaurant in downtown Portland. They speacialize in a sandwich in which I got...they take ground beef, pound it with fries and sauce and put it on a hoagy.  I must say one of the best sandwiches I can recall in recent history.  They also had Boneyard IPA on tap which is a good thing! I think I know why they call it Muumuus though...you'll end up wearing one after a few trips here. All in all I would say hit this place up! www.muumuus.net/

-Our official last stop on the trip was a bar we never even went to regardless that it was across the street from our hotel.  Wurst is a really nice bar, with a decent amount of taps. No suprise, we had the Boneyard IPA once again.  This place is fun though because they have lots of arcade games and it wasn't too crowded on a Sunday at 7pm.  I recommend it for a beer and bring some quarters for games! thewurstpdx.com/

Bridgeport Brewing - Portland, OR

The last brewery of the trip (unless you count Lucky Lab for a second time) we stopped at was Bridgeport Brewing. Luckily it was only blocks away from Rogue.  This place reminded me of Alameda because it was clean, classy and seemed somewhat upscale. Apparently it's one of or THE original breweries in Portland. They bottle most their beers for sale.

-The scenery is nice, kind of a unique feel, our waiter was very good.  Prices were average and we grabbed lunch. I got the BBQ chicken quesedilla..when it arrived I was a little worried since it looked bland and it wouldn't be good but it turned out it was VERY good. 

-As for the beer, I got my last sampler of the trip! All their beers they have on tap..Summer Squeeze Bright Ale was tasty and light, Blue Heron Pale Ale was tasty, Kingpin Double Red Ale I liked a lot, Porter was decent, Old Knucklehead was really good, Something Tart nothing special, the IPA was really good, and Hop Czar Imperial IPA was really good. 

-Lots of good merch..free stickers and keychains which who can complain about that? Each of their beers on a pint glass, t-shirts. Waiter even gave me all the coasters they have in stock, nice guy.

-Overall since this was our last brand new brewery stop, I was happy. Check them out..www.bridgeportbrew.com/

Rogue Brewing - Portland, OR

Now this is not the Rogue Brewery itself, but one of the Ale houses they have set up.  They have a few tables outside, and inside probably about 30 tables and a 6-8 seater bar. The bartender was a really energetic guy..maybe cause it was only 11am?

 

 

-I went with the sampler..which was confusing because you could pick any 4 however not everything was able to be picked plus some you COULD pick but weren't written on the board? But either way I picked mine easily...Oregasmic IPA was tasty, Brutal IPA was just eh, 200 Meter was really good, and the Chocolate Stout was VERY good.

-I luckily got there while they were holding a Memorial Day "Garage Sale" in which a lot of merch was sale.  They also had TONS of regular priced glasses, t-shirts, and lots of other items for sale.

  -Really nice staff, clean, TONS of beers to choose from, if you can make it then I would say check it out but Rogue beers are available almost anywhere but hey it's still fun! rogue.com/

 

Brewpubs/Restaurants Day 3 - Portland, OR

On Day 3 we stopped into some food and brewpubs, including Hopworks which I already reviewed so I will be skipping that...as for the others..

-Before we started drinking we needed food.  So we hit up a pizza place we knew was good because of our last trip and that is Hotlips Pizza(side note, we also had dinner their on Day 4), they have locations scattered throughout Portland and we luckily found one right near Deschute's. We each got a slice and ordered GoodLife Brewing Descender IPA which we knew nothing about but it was phenomenal.  But as for the pizza, you can't go wrong whether it's a slice or a whole pie the pepperoni is just amazing. They have plenty more beer to choose from including bottles and can. Being from Buffalo we have some GOOD pizza places but Hotlips is worth the visit if you're in Portland, especially for a late night snack, plus they deliver! Check out their locations....hotlipspizza.com/

-After Deschute's, we walked a few short blocks to Henry's Tavern, which is a great beer bar.  They have a HUGE tap list, good prices, great happy hour prices for food, tons of seating including lots of tables outside. We of course took advantage outside and relaxed with a good view of the block. We drank the Boneyard IPA which is so good, Boneyard Triple IPA which was amazing...very strong but very good, and Hop Valley Alpha Cenuari Binary which is a mouthful just to order and not even worth saying all the words..good but nothing special.  Henry's is right in the middle of the downtown area, and their beer list is just sick, so I must say I highly recommend this place.They have a few locations so if you want to check the current tap list ensure you have the right location... www.henrystavern.com/ 

-We were dying to find Barley Browns IPA the entire trip and luckily after researching online found it at N.W.I.P.A.. So after Gigantic brewing we hopped on the bus and headed there.  Just a basic small bar, nothing too special.  But they had our beer! Which unfortunately was a massive let down...not sure if it was a bad batch, old batch, taste buds were sick of beer, but whatever happened we didn't like it as much as expected.  But as for the bar itself, they sell lots of really good beers in the coolers that you can drink on site...I bought the Russian River Supplication.  We got the oysters since they have a small bar menu...they were average at best.  This place has a small beer menu, mostly IPAs, I would only recommend going here if you're in the area or they have a rare beer..they update their site daily. nwipapdx.com/

Lucky Labrador Brewing - Portland, OR

Our last brewery visit of the day was to Lucky Labrador Brewing...or simply Lucky Lab.  This was in my top 3 favorite breweries of the trip. Let me first say I went to two different Lucky Labs (one on Day 3 and one on Day 4..this will review both collectively). It was HUGE, probably about the size of Hair of the Dog or Alameda but had more of a barn type feel.  Needless to say, tons of seating at picnic tables and even more outside.

-This place felt like a brewery, lots of merch hanging about the bar, good music playing, and I must say the coasters were my favorite coaster of the trip.  I also purchased a glass even though they weren't quite my favorite type of glass.

 

 

-They had great art work of dogs spread throughout the brewery too which is why I loved it even more.

 -Now onto the beer...I got a sampler on Day 3. No Pitty Pale Ale I liked a lot, Byron's Pale Ale was okay, Blue Dog Amber not bad, Tim's Beer was good and light, Super Dog IPA was one of the BEST beers of the trip, and lastly Cascadian Dark Ale not bad.  On Day 4 we just got pints of Super Dog IPA and man it is tasty.

-You can buy a 22oz bottle on site, but no where else in Portland as far as I understand.  I highly recommend if you're an IPA person get this beer.

-With three locations spread throughout Portland this is a MUST stop for any brewery tour you may go on in Portland ..check out their locations and other info...luckylab.com/

Gigantic Brewing - Portland, OR

Next brewery stop was Gigantic Brewing. For me, this was the most disappointing...but let me explain. We had tried their IPA days earlier at I believe Belmont? We really liked it so said we should check out the brewery. Well once getting off the bus, it ended up being a pretty good hike, which normally I wouldn't mind but it was industrial area so not very scenic or interesting.

-Not a soul in site for half a mile then we show up and the place is PACKED. It wasn't a horrible looking place, reminded me a lot of Amnesia.  Luckily they have lots of outdoor seating. I got the sampler which was served in a little cheap plastic basket.  Plus, I felt like by ordering the sampler I was annoying the bartender..understandable.  Then I asked to buy a glass they sell, and said they were out although they had about 50 behind the bar but okay I understand you need them for customers and can't sell them it's fine I'll keep my money. 
-As for the beers I had Timer Traveler porter which was okay, The End of Reason which was decent, Old Man Growers Holiday Tripple I liked a lot, Dark Meddle Vienna Lager good, and Whole in the Head Imperial I like a lot, plus the Gigantic IPA which is pretty damn good.

-All in all I did enjoy a couple of the beers, but the trip all the out there just wasn't worth it for me, but hey if you'd like to check them out feel free...www.giganticbrewing.com/

Deschute's Brewery - Portland, OR

On Day 3, our first brewery stop was Deschute's Brewery. This place was another I had been to on my first visit years ago, but didn't remember much.  We arrived at about 12:30 and this place was PACKED. Funny thing is, it's the biggest brewery I've ever been to and had a line out the door.  We luckily were able to grab a bar table which doesn't require a reservation.  Our bartender quickly arrived and was a nice guy, he seemed to be pouring his own drinks for his tables so it was understandable that he wasn't there every two minutes asking if everything is okay.

 -As always I did the sample, they had so much to choose from and every beer was free range for the sampler. I went with the Fresh Squeezed IPA Cask which was very good, Cinder Cone Red was very good, White IPA I liked a lot, Hop Henge was decent, Inversion IPA which is their flagship IPA was really good as expected, Double Impact Double IPA was just fantastic best beer of them all, and the Oatmeal Pale was pretty bad unfortunately. Needless to say they were about 80% success which is better than I could imagine in a brewery taster platter. 

-We ate the pretzel which unfortunately wasn't as good as memory serves. Hopworks killed them in a taste test for pretzels.
-Merch wise, they have a LOT. I bought a beer sampler glass and my girlfriend a great "how beer is made" t-shirt, and they had lots of other great stuff, and even more on their online store. Plus the girls at the counter also act as hostess' and they were GREAT help and very polite even though it was extremely busy. 

 

-Deschute's is a must if you're in Portland...great beer, I'm sure the food is good, and good service, just plan on waiting at least 20minutes if you want a regular table. Check out their site...www.deschutesbrewery.com/